


illicit affairs

by csd24



Category: The Wilds (TV 2020)
Genre: AU- college, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Slow Burn, fluff?, honestly not sure where this is going but we'll find out i guess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-18 02:48:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29236323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/csd24/pseuds/csd24
Summary: Try as she might, Toni can't keep Shelby out of her life, or her mind.Toni can't keep Shelby off her mind...What the fuck does that mean?
Relationships: Shelby Goodkind/Toni Shalifoe
Comments: 6
Kudos: 84





	1. Chapter 1

It was the end of her first week of freshman year at the University of Minnesota and Toni Shalifoe was following her best friend into a dingy house that was blaring music so loudly, they’d heard it from two blocks away.

“Let’s go dance!” Martha shouted over the loud noise of the party.

Toni wasn’t really one for parties. Sure, she had gone to her fair share of high school ragers with her basketball team, but she hated trying to maneuver through the crowds of sweaty teenagers drinking shitty beer and dancing to shitty music. Martha, on the other hand, hadn’t gone to many parties in high school and she wanted to have the “full college experience.” 

Unable to deny her best friend, Toni nodded and followed Martha into the crowd. 

Toni would dance with Martha, but she wouldn’t be able to do it sober, so she led them to a table full of cheap liquor and red solo cups on the way to the dance floor. She poured Marty a vodka sprite - mostly sprite - and handed it to her. She then poured her own drink - mostly vodka - emptying the bottle into her cup. Toni turned around to leave when an annoyingly peppy voice stopped her.

“Not gonna leave any for the rest of us?” the blonde girl said with a perfect smile.

Toni stared back at her. She was gorgeous, but in such an irritating way. Her blonde hair was long and straight, not a single flyaway in sight. Her blue eyes were bright, more enticing than Toni had ever seen before. She wore a cute sundress, pretty but out of place, looking more like an outfit for a Sunday church service. This made sense, Toni thought, when her eyes rested on the silver cross hanging from the girl’s neck. 

“Would Jesus want you drinking that? I’m just doing God’s work here.” Toni snarked back to her.

The girl’s smile faltered for half a second and Martha shot Toni a disapproving look.

“Hi! I’m Martha,” she said to the blonde, excited to make new friends, “and this is Toni, don’t mind her.” She shot Toni another look as if to say _behave yourself,_ so Toni pressed her mouth shut. 

“Shelby Goodkind. It’s very nice to meet you both,” the girl beamed, with a slight Southern drawl that Toni hadn’t noticed at first. 

“Alright well,” Toni started, desperate to get away from the bible basher, “we’re gonna go dance.”

Although it definitely wasn’t meant to be, Shelby apparently took this as an invitation, because she looked back at her and said, “Great! I love this song!”

Toni rolled her eyes but Marty looked so happy, she didn’t want to ruin this for her. So she followed the other two girls to the dance floor. 

-

After about three torturous hours of dancing with Shelby and consuming as much alcohol as they could, Toni and Martha were finally on their way out the door. 

“Let me drive y’all home,” Shelby called behind them as she watched Toni guiding a stumbling Martha through the crowd. 

“We’re good,” Toni said without looking at her. 

Shelby followed them out the door anyway. “Come on, I haven’t been drinkin’, you made sure of that,” she shot Toni a small smile. It wasn’t returned. “Besides,” Shelby quickly continued, “y’all can’t be walking home alone in the dark. This one can barely keep her eyes open,” she said, gesturing towards Martha. 

As much as Toni didn’t want to accept this girl’s help, she knew Shelby was right. Martha was way too drunk, it was eerily dark outside, and although she knew their dorm wasn’t far, Toni wasn’t totally familiar with the area yet.

“Alright, fine.”

Shelby smiled like she had just won the lottery, and Toni begrudgingly followed her to her car. She got Martha settled in the backseat, buckling her in as she immediately rested her head on the window and fell asleep, then climbed into the front to give her more space.

The ride was short and quiet. When they arrived, Shelby helped Toni support Martha up the three flights of stairs to her dorm room. Toni had told her she was fine, but Shelby insisted, and Toni secretly appreciated the help. Once Martha was soundly in her bed, Toni expected the other girl to leave, but she just stood in the doorway, a small smile on her face.

“So, uh, I had a lot of fun tonight. I haven’t met many other girls here, but Martha is wonderful,” she shifted her gaze to the sleeping girl, “and you’re okay, I guess,” she flashed a smile and shrugged playfully.

Toni just stared back at her, wondering what the girl was getting at.

“Maybe we could hang out again sometime?”

“Are you asking me on a date, blondie?” Toni smirked.

Shelby’s face flushed and her eyes widened. She had clearly missed the joke. “No,” she said a little too loudly, all humor gone from the conversation. “That’s not - I mean I’m not - I don’t believe in -” she muttered, stumbling over her words.

Toni stiffened. She didn’t know what she had expected from the Southern church girl in front of her, but after her help with Marty, she had begun to think that maybe Shelby wasn’t all that bad. 

“You don’t believe in what?”

“You know…” Shelby looked at her warily. _"That_ way of life.”

So much for that.

A look of regret and embarrassment washed over Shelby’s face as soon as the words left her mouth, but it was too late. Toni glared back at her. 

“Get out.”

Shelby opened her mouth to say something but Toni was closing the door on her before she could. She didn’t want to hear another word. 

She never wanted to see Shelby fucking Goodkind ever again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! i hope you guys liked this first chapter. i know it's pretty short. i'm not totally sure how this story is going to go, but let me know what you think!


	2. Chapter 2

Toni’s plan to never see Shelby again lasted all of twelve hours. 

She stood in line at the cafe around the corner from her dorm, picking up some coffee and donuts to help Martha through her first major hangover. A little hungover herself, Toni had absolutely no patience for the high-pitched, Southern drawling, perfectly irritating voice that filled her ears just seconds after she heard the chiming bell above the door.

“Fancy seein’ you here,” Shelby said brightly, taking her place in line behind Toni.

“It is way too early for this,” Toni huffed back, without looking at her.

“It’s noon,” Shelby pointed out.

“Exactly.”

Shelby stayed quiet for a moment - a moment that Toni was very grateful for - not quite knowing what to say. And then the short-lived moment of peace was gone.

“Toni,” the girl said quietly, urging her to turn around.

Toni ignored her.

“Toni,” Shelby said again, still quietly enough that only the two of them could hear, “can we please talk about last night?”

“No.” Toni was still facing forward, making a concerted effort not to look at the other girl. 

“I didn’t mean—”  
Her efforts failed. Toni spun around, hoping her scowl would help Shelby understand that this - or any - conversation was unwelcome. “I don’t care what you meant, Shelby. We both know what you said.” 

“But I—”

“No.” It was Toni’s turn to order now, and she fumed silently as she waited for her drinks to be prepared. When the barista set her coffee and donuts on the counter, she grabbed them roughly and stormed out the door without another glance at the blonde girl watching her leave.

-

“God, she’s the worst,” Toni grumbled as she slammed the door behind her.

Martha winced.

“Sorry, sorry,” Toni said, much more quietly now, handing over her coffee.

Martha took the cup and slowly brought it to her lips. She took a long sip before looking back up at her best friend. 

“It’s okay,” she shook her head to dismiss Toni’s apology. “Who are you talking about anyway?”

“Ugh,” Toni plopped down on the bed next to Martha, happy to accept this invitation to complain. “That Shelby girl from last night. She was at the coffee shop harassing me.”

“Oh really?” Martha smirked. “She was harassing you? That sweet girl who is nothing but kind?”

“She was!” Toni defended. “And she’s not as sweet as you think.” 

Martha’s smile turned to confusion. “What happened?”

Toni quickly relayed the previous night’s conversation, making sure to emphasize Shelby’s blatant bigotry.

“And now she wants to talk about it? As if i would want to talk to her after that.”

“Maybe she wanted to apologize,” Marty offered.

“For what? Being a homophobic asshole?” Toni scoffed. “I doubt it.”

“You never know. Maybe you should just talk to her. It was probably just a misunderstanding. She was so kind to us last night, she didn’t have to drive us home.”

Toni rolled her eyes. She was familiar with Martha’s incessant need to see the best in people, but it was still annoying. 

“Yeah, maybe,” she replied purely for her friend’s benefit, even though she knew Martha knew she was lying.

-

For the next few days, Toni managed not to run into Shelby, and she was finally starting to forget about her when - 

“I invited Shelby to our movie night,” Martha told her.

The two girls had planned to watch movies and do face masks in their dorm room that night with a couple of their new friends, Fatin and Dot. Well, Martha had planned it and Toni wasn’t opposed. Until now.

“You what?” She stared at her.

“I invited Shelby. I really like her, and I want you guys to work out whatever issues you have so we can all be friends.”

“I’m not the one with the issues,” Toni shot back. “She can’t stand that I’m gay Marty, why would I want to be friends with someone like that?”

“That can’t be true, Toni. I’m sure you just misunderstood her.”

“Whatever,” Toni resigned. “But she doesn’t get to pick the movie. I’m not spending all night watching Jesus flicks.”

Martha rolled her eyes but smiled, and Toni tried to remind herself how excited her friend was about their night in. She would do anything to make Martha happy, and if she had to, she guessed she could try giving Shelby another chance.

-

That night, Toni sat on her bed, scrunched up next to Martha, Fatin, and Dot. They had gotten a projector from the library - Martha said it would be more exciting that way - and they were scrolling through Netflix trying to settle on a movie.

“I am absolutely not about to watch a rom-com,” Toni said pointedly to Dot, who was trying to make her case for _Love and Other Drugs._

“All I’m sayin’ is that Jake Gyllenhaal can get it.” Dot shrugged, as if this was an irrefutable fact.

“Ooh and Anne Hathaway too,” Fatin said, nodding in agreement. 

“See? There’s something for everyone!” Dot said to Toni.

Toni laughed, and she had to admit that she was having fun just sitting around with her friends. The sentiment was short lived though, gone as soon as she heard the knock on the door.

“Come in!” Martha yelled excitedly, and Shelby appeared with her signature blinding smile.

“Sorry I’m late, y’all. I stopped for snacks!”

Of course she did. 

“Sweet!” Dot reached for a bag of chips, and Fatin claimed the popcorn.

“And I brought these just for you,” Shelby said, handing Toni a bag of takis. The grin on her face was smug, like she was proud of herself.

Toni shot Martha a look, knowing that she must’ve tipped Shelby off about her weakness for her favorite snack. She looked back at Shelby coldly, but snatched the bag out of her hand anyway. She wasn’t about to deny free takis. 

Now Martha was shooting her a look, so Toni mumbled a small “thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” Shelby said, her smile big and proud. 

After snacks were passed out and introductions were made, Shelby was still standing at the foot of the bed awkwardly, looking around for a place to sit. Martha must have noticed this too, because in the next minute she was up off the bed, leaving an empty spot next to Toni.

“Oh Shelby, I’m sorry! Here, take my spot. I’ll pull the chair over.”

“Oh no Martha, I couldn’t,” Shelby said back, shaking her head. 

“Of course you can! You have to.” Martha moved her chair into a position where she could see the projector and made herself comfortable before the blonde girl had a chance to object.

“Well, okay…” Shelby sounded unsure. 

“It’s okay, Texas. We don’t bite,” Fatin said, patting the empty spot between her and Toni.

“Speak for yourself,” Toni scoffed, completely unenthused with the idea of sitting crushed up next to Shelby all night. 

Fatin laughed, but Toni didn’t. Shelby surely noticed the look Toni was giving her, but she ignored it and climbed right into bed anyway.

Toni stiffened as her arm pressed against the other girl’s. The contact was surprisingly warm, and not as uncomfortable as she had expected, though Toni would never admit that. 

They sat like that for the next two hours. Toni wasn’t even sure what movie they had decided on because she was so distracted by Shelby’s presence next to her; how good her hair smelled, and how her laugh sounded almost like a song. Toni finally snapped out of it when Martha clicked the lights on, and she realized the credits were rolling. The other three girls said their goodbyes and went back to their respective rooms. Martha went straight to sleep, leaving Toni alone on the now empty bed, thinking about the blonde girl. 

She knew she shouldn’t be thinking about Shelby, she hated Shelby, right? Toni told herself she was just trying to keep the peace, for Martha’s sake. That’s all it was. It had to be. She shook her head hard, as if to remove all of her confusing thoughts, before lying down and drifting off to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm sorry this took forever, i honestly have no excuse, this is just who i am as a person. hope you enjoy it though!

Movie nights became a weekly affair for Toni, Martha, Fatin, Dot, and much to Toni’s chagrin, Shelby. Toni wouldn’t admit it, but she was beginning to look forward to those Sunday nights with her friends. Unlike the first time, she watched the movies they chose intently, pushing Shelby out of her mind.

Toni loved movies growing up, especially the Disney ones, her all-time favorite being The Princess and the Frog. With all the instability of ever-changing foster homes and foster families, Toni found the characters to be dependable. No matter where she was, she could count on Tiana to be exactly who Toni knew her to be, never changing (except, of course, into a frog) or giving up on her. When she watched her favorite films, she could shut out everything around her and escape into fantasy worlds.

This is exactly what she started doing during movie nights with her friends. She would focus on whatever they were watching with tunnel vision, shutting out Shelby next to her and, more importantly, any unwanted feelings that may arise. This was working for a while, and she even managed to keep Shelby out of her mind at all for the next few weeks. 

Until Fatin decided to disturb the peace.

“Time to spice this shit up, bitches!” Fatin exclaimed as she burst through the door one Sunday night, Dot in tow.

Shelby had arrived a few moments earlier and was sitting on the bed next to Toni, while Martha fiddled with the projector. Now, all three girls turned to look at Fatin expectantly. 

“I brought us a new friend!” Fatin beamed, pulling a huge bottle of vodka out of her purse and holding it in the air like a trophy. “Fuck movie night, it’s time for drinking games!”  
“Hell yeah!” Dot concurred. 

In the back of her mind, Toni knew that she wouldn’t be able to tunnel vision tonight, especially if she was drunk, but she didn’t really care. She had had a long week and she was ready to let go. And apparently, so was Martha.

“Wooohooooo!” Marty cheered, jumping up from the floor. All the girls laughed with her then, and Toni was happy to see her best friend so excited. 

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of Shelby’s momentarily wavering smile, a flash of nervousness on her face. Toni ignored the concern that was trying to emerge, and turned back to Fatin, ready to play whatever ridiculous games she had up her sleeve.

It was then that Fatin informed them that she had also invited a few extras, who arrived soon after. Leah was Fatin’s TA in creative writing class, and Toni was pretty sure Fatin was crushing hard. The heart eyes were less than subtle. The feelings seemed to be somewhat mutual though, as Leah frequently stole glances at their friend while she sat awkwardly sipping her drink. Good for Fatin, Toni thought. Toni already knew Rachel from basketball, and the third girl, she learned, was Rachel’s twin, Nora.

Fatin had poured eight drinks out into red solo cups, and they all sat in a circle with the bottle in the middle. 

“So what should we play first? Kings? Quarters? Flip cup?” Fatin asked the group once they’d all been introduced and settled in with their drinks. 

“Ooh what about never have I ever??” Martha suggested. 

“That is so basic Marty B, but I will oblige you this one time. Go ahead and start,” Fatin said, nodding toward Martha, who smiled big.  
“Hmm… Never have I ever been to Texas!” 

Shelby and Dot both drank and Marty smiled, proud of herself. Nora was next.

“Never have I ever felt like a nimbostratus cloud,” Nora said quietly, her eyes a little glossy.

Everyone stared back at her, but Toni thought she saw Leah take a sip anyway. 

“Nor, you’re supposed to say something you know will make other people drink. Like this,” Rachel turned toward Toni, “Never have I ever thrown my own piss at someone.”

Toni laughed and raised her cup as the other girls looked over at her confused. “With pride, motherfuckers.”

At that, they all collapsed into laughter. Toni couldn’t help but notice Shelby’s sing-songy voice amongst the others and she was in awe that it was her who had evoked such a beautiful sound. 

The night went on, with more laughter, more ridiculous never have I evers, and of course, more drinks. The switched to Kings after that, and then some complicated game that Fatin tried to explain. None of them really understood the rules, and they were all decently tipsy at that point, so everyone was perfectly willing to switch it up when Shelby yelled “Truth or Dare!!” in the middle of their cluster-fuck of a game. 

Toni could have sworn she saw Shelby look right at her when she said it.

“Martha! Truth or dare, darlin’?”

Some time later, after Martha prank called a pizza place, Rachel did a head stand, Dot ran down the hallway in nothing but her underwear, and Nora opened up about her ex-boyfriend Quinn (thankfully providing context for the cloud comment), it was Fatin’s turn.

“Shelby, dare or dare?”

“I believe the game is called truth or dare, Fatin,” Shelby slurred back at her.

“You’re correct Texas, but truth is no fun. So dare or dare?”

“Uhh.. dare?”

“Good answer. I dare you to kiss me.” 

A lot happened in the next thirty seconds. Toni sat right next to Fatin, heart pounding, telling herself she didn’t care. Shelby’s eyes widened. Leah stared at Fatin like she had just killed her puppy. Fatin looked at Leah, and realizing what she had done opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, it happened. 

Shelby was crawling to the other side of the circle, on her way to Fatin, but at the last possible second she changed course and grabbed Toni’s face in her hands, smashing their lips together. 

It was drunk and sloppy and Toni knew she shouldn’t, but she kissed her back. God, she kissed her back and she would be lying if she said she didn’t love every second. 

And then as soon as it started it was over. Shelby pulled back, staring at Toni with her eyes practically popping out of her head. She looked around at the circle of girls, all seven of them peering back at her in surprise. And before Toni knew what was happening, Shelby was running out the door.


End file.
